"Yes, this is United 885. We see people and I think we should – they need immediate attention. They’re alive and they’re walking around.

"You said, you said people are just walking outside the airplane right now?" came the controller’s response.

“Yes, some people look like they’re struggling," the pilot said. "Between the runways there are people right adjacent to the numbers. I can – we can see about two or three people that are moving and, uh, and apparently survived."

Joanne Hayes-White, the San Francisco fire chief, said 182 people out of the 307 on board the 11-hour flight were injured.

Two Chinese students, 16-year-olds Wang Linjia and Ye Mengyuan, died in the crash. According to the airline they were seated at the rear of the aircraft.

Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the NTSB, said that they will be looking at pilot error as a possible cause of the crash.

She told reporters that "everything's on table at this point. We have to gather all the facts before we reach any conclusions."

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